In April

On-going streaks or lack thereof: I meditated every day (#19) with no make-ups, bringing my streak to 158/365 days with 1/5 makeups. I’ve completed my 60 total singles sessions in Headspace (#21). Most of these were repetitive SOS sessions. I’ll continue to repeat the ones I’ve done as needed, and I’d like to work on completing the remaining new singles sessions that are applicable to me over the course of the 1001: classic guided, walking, and eating. I have kept up with my monthly photo books (#39). I have been working on my morning and evening routines (#54), but I have no streak going. I read three more young adult books before bed each month (#59), bringing my total to 18. We visited and Skyped with both sets of grandparents (#77), making a streak of four months.

I also scheduled my outstanding doctor’s appointments (#96).

I enjoyed a declutter challenge with Katie this month. A lot of the items I got out of the house were plain trash and regular recycling, but I also sorted through the things I’d previously designated as donations, identified new things to donate, and took recycling to Best Buy. I even found a blue-tailed skink that I worked hard to capture and reintroduce to the outside world. I really focused on looking critically at the mess around me and taking action immediately when I saw something that needed to go. I scheduled a pick-up for the bulk of our things and contacted a harder-to-donate to local organization. I’d planned to drop those things off at the end of the month, but I couldn’t justify spending my time that way when…

… life threw me a curve ball courtesy of my long-faithful car. I had created a new budget to increase my routine saving for a car (#32). Our last occupational therapy appointment for a while was April 28, which allowed me to redistribute some of that money starting in May. While I had designated some of our windfall money (from tax returns and inheritance), I was hoping that I could increase our savings ahead of time to lessen the amount and shock of a car payment. Alas, the faithful car didn’t pass inspection and required more costly work than the worth of the car. So I bought a new one a few months earlier than I’d hoped. It also presented another opportunity to ask for help in significant ways (#64), as our money wasn’t liquid enough to make the end-of-month promotions and there was no way to go car shopping with a preschooler. My mother-in-law came to babysit and get us over the two-day wait for our own money to hit, and my parents visited and babysat while I practiced driving the new van so that I would be more comfortable with it when I needed to drive my son around.